Door-operating means.



PATENTED APR. 23, 1907.

W. T. GLASS. DOOR OPERATING MEANS. APPLICATION rum) JUNE 13.1906.

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will be held fir UNITED srArns PATENT oFF oE.

W YORK, ASSIGN OR OF ON E-HALF-TO OF NAPANOCH, NEW YORK.

DOOR-OPERATING MEANS- Speification of Letters Patent. i

Patented April 23, 1907.

Application filed June 18, 1906 Serial No. 321,473.

To a. whqmit may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM T. GLAss, a c tizen of the United States of America residing at- N apanoch, in the county of Ulster and State of New Y have invented'new in Door-Operating Means, of which the following isa specificat1on. i

This invention relates to improvements in slidi g doors for railway cars, barns, cars and other structures'.-,

e invention One object of t door of this type be easlly adjusted, but which when locked mly and sltion, and-which may also be locked in any desired door locked in closed position. I vertical section on the line 3'3' osition in its range of movement. Anot er object is to provide means for mounting and locking ner that when thrown into action the door will be fastened at top and bottom and tight against the door frame, so that it will be held firmly su ported against all efforts to open it by unaut persons and will be wind and storm proof, and will also be sustained againstany tendency to rattle under the action of wind currents or, when used upon a railway car, from rattling or vibrating under the. motion of the car.

' A further object of the invention is to provide improved looking means which is simple of construction, efiicient in action, and may be readily and conveniently adjusted to lock the door. I I

With the above and other ojects in View, the invention consists of the combination and arrangements of parts hereinafter more fully described and claimed, reference be= ing had to the accompanying drawings, in which', I 1

Figure 1' is a view in elevation of. a car or other structure equi ped with my invention, showing the released door in partly open positions Fig, 2 is a similar view showing'the Fig. 3 is a of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a detail section of one of the hangers. Referring-to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates the frame of a car or other structure. its outer side a vertical b'ufl'or limit the closing movement of the door..

of the securely inlocked po.-

the door in such man-' the locking mechanism is.

orized provided with a doorway 2 having at or stop rail-3 to your} other side of the doorway is a si1ni=-- lar buffer or stop rail 4 which limits the opening movement of the door, and extending between these buffers are upper and are respectlvelvlowerrailsfi and 6, which provided with upper and lower sets of locklng' teeth 7 and 8. a

. The door 91s arranged to slide between the rails and extends at its lower edge on the in. side of the lowerrail 6 which is arranged to form aguide passage between it and car or structure. The said rail 6 is carried by a supporting plate 10, tothe upper edge of Which it isv fastend in any preferred manner. The plate '10, which is. referably formed of sheet metal, is outwar orcurved to form a guard or shield 11 below the lower edge of the door, and is secured at its lower edge at suitable intervals to spacing blocks 12 fixedito the wall of the structure.

Said bl'ocks space thes'aid lower edge of the shield a sufficient distance frolnthe wall to provide passages for the discharge of dirt and any other oreign matter which may gain ac cess to the space between the shield and wall. The shield also acts as a guard to prevent ready access to the lower set of locking devices, as hereinafter described.

e door is supported atits upper end by hangers 13 which engage the rail 5 and hold the said upperend of the door from outward movement. Each hanger 13 is provided With ahooked portion 14 to take over the upper edge of the rail, said hooked portion be ing formed'with a depressed locking projection 15 to cooperate with theteeth 7. Below the hook-the hanger is provided with an oblique arm 16 extending upwardly and adapted to engage the rail to prevent the door frolnbeing forced'upward to throw the hangers out of engagementwith the rail5. Between the hook and arm the hanger is inclined, as indicated at 17, in such a'mamier as to throw the upper edge of the door when elevated away from the wall of the structure and force the same when therdoor is lowered closely against the wall ly bowed is pro- .which staple an ordinary the door slightly elevated with the upper shifting the lever 26 to 1 lower rail 6, thus locking the door at top and a ainst the wall of the structure, so that it "thrown outwardly at devices 24 provided at their lower endswith for an unauthorized person to move the door hooked portions 25 having teeth tc engage. the teeth 8 upon said rail 6. The crank shaft ,is also provided with an operating arm or lever 26, which is apertured at its upper end for the reception of a staple 27 on the door, to pad lock may be connected to hold the arms 26 and parts of the locking mechanism in locking position. The arm or lever 26 niayalso be provided with an apertured staple or projection 28 adapted to cooperate with a mortise lock 29 on the door. This lock maybe of the type in which the ,bolt or locking mechanism thereof is both projected and retracted by a key, or it may be one of that type in which the locking bolt thereof will be automatically thrown into locking engagement with the staple 28 when the leve 26 is thrown up against the door to throw the-door locking mechanism into action.

- The construction and relative arrangement of the cranks, lower hangers 22 and .locking devices 24 is such that when the lever 26 is right angles to the door, hangers 22 will holc with any ordinary tools.

It will be understood from the description, taken in connection with the drawings, that by means of the locking mechanism the door maybe securely fastened mechanism in holding the door firmly closed at top and bottom peculiarly adapts the door buildings in which a firmly locked door is a desideratum to prevent the entrance of wind and rain and tramps and other unauthorized persons.

By the use of the spring lock to hold the lever arm-26 in locking position, a high degree of safety is insured in theuse of the door upon freight cars, as the locking mechanism cannot be thrown into action without it being held in looking position by the lock 29 the door. Thus if-a-person in charge of the work in closing the car fails to lock the lever 26 visual evidence of that factwill be given, as the lever willnot remain in locked position. Where a spring lock is employed, the key thereof may be transmitted with the weigh bill from the shipping to the destination point bv mail or any other manner to as shown 111 Fig 1,, the

hangers 13 thrown out of locking engagement with the teeth of the upper rail 5, the construction further being such that the hooked locking portions of the locking devices 28 in this position of the parts 'will lie below and out of "engagement with the toothed surface 8 of the bottom rail 6, thus allowing the door to be freely moved in either ocking mechanism and opening the door. A seal of ordinary construction, such as used on car doors, maybe applied to the staple 2 7 direction on its supportingrollers 23. Upon the position shown in Fig. 2, the crank portions of the shaft will shift the lower hangers 22 and locking devices 24 in such manner. as to allow the door to drop to a sufiicient extent to bring the upper hangers 13 into locking engagement with the teeth of the upper rai 5, while drawing the locking portions of the locking devices 24 into locking engagement with the teeth of the tional security locked will be held on opposite sides of its center at top and bottom,

will be prevented, thus firmly looking it and sup orting it in' closed'position.

aving thus described is claimed as new, is

1 The combination with a car or other structure having a doorway, of vat the top andbottom of ing door,. hangers upon engaging the upper'rail locking portions to engage-the toothed portion of said rail, rollers upon the lower end of the door arranged to travel upon the lower 1 rail, locking devices arranged to engage the toothed surface of the lower rail, and operatbottom firmly in position. Upon the subsequent retraction of the lever 26 the door will be elevated and the parts reversely operated to release the top and bottom sets of locking devices, as will be readily understood. It will be observed that upon the retraction of the locking devices' and elevation of the door the inclined surfaces 17 of the upper hangers 13 will force the door away from the wall of the structure, thus allowing the door to be freely moved back and forth, and that on the, contrary when the locking mechansm is thrown into action and the door depressed, said inclined surfaces will force the door the top of the door and provided with into and out of engagement with the lower rail, said means -neously depressthe door to throw the upper hangers into locking engagement with the upper rail. l 2. 'The combination with a car or other structure having a doorway, and bottom of the doorway, a' sliding door, locking hangers upon the top of the door en gaging the upper rail, locking devices upon will be held in such iirm engagement therewith as to be held solidly from rattling against the action of wind or vibrations, while :at the same time rendering it practically impossible to any extent by pressure or manipulation in any desired position in its range of movement, and that the action of the. looking for use upon freight cars, barns and other out in conjunction with a padlock to give addrn will be observed that a's the door when all tendency of itsmovement under pressure in any direction ing means for throwing the locking devices being adapted to simultaof rails at the top foregoing revent possible surreptitious release of the I the invention, what' toothed rails the doorway, a slidthe bottom of the door to engage the lower I locking de- I 3. The com ination with a car or other structure having adoorway, of rails at the to and bottom of the doorway, the lower rail lower edge with rack teeth, a shield guarding the toothed surface of the lower rail, a rock shaft on the door rovided with crank portions, rollers and 100 ring devices supported by said shaft, said rollers eing arranged to run upon the upper surface of the ower rail and the locking devices to bethroWn into and out of action with the toothed surface of said rail when the shaft is moved in one direction or the other, means upon the upper end of the door for supportm the same from the u per rail, and means for 00k- 111g the rock shalt in adjusted position.

4. The combination with a car or other structure having a doorway and upper and lower toothed rails at the top and bottom of I the doorway, of a door provided with rollers to run upon the lower rail, hangers upon the upper end of the door loosely embracing the I .the rail, locking devices 3 upper rail and adapted to interlock therewith, said hangers being normally supported by the rollers out of locking engagement with at the bottom of the shifting the rollers and locking devices to simultaneously lower the door and move the hangers and locking devices into respective engagement with the upper and lower rails.

5. The combination with a car or other structure having a doorway, of stationary locking devices at the top and bottom of the doorway, cooperating locking devices at the top and bottom of the door, the upper locking devices being adapted to move the door in and out upon a down movement thereof, said locking devices being thrown into and. out of action by such a down movement of the door, and means for simultaneously throwing the lower locking devices on the door into and out of en agement with the lower stationary locking evice and simultaneously moving the door up and down to correspondingly adjust the upper locking devices thereon.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM T. GLASS. Witnesses:

WILLIAM D. ANINGHAM, JoHN JACOB RUssELL. 

